He may be a convicted perjurer and a political outcast at home. But Lord Archer's first tentative steps towards rehabilitation have met with an enthusiastic welcome from ladies who lunch on the other side of the world.

The disgraced Conservative politician has chosen Australia to launch his first novel since his release from prison in 2003, and he declared his comeback at a literary lunch in a plush hotel overlooking Sydney harbour in front of 410 avid fans.

Indignity has not dulled him. With a mixture of flirtation and flattery, the master storyteller proved he still knows how to woo a crowd consisting largely of women in late middle age. He told his audience: "At my recent trial, waiting for the judge to pass sentence, I hoped he would send me to Australia for the rest of my life."

At a series of public appearances, the man once known as prisoner FF8282 has been playing up his experiences behind bars and regaling his readers with stories of getting 4,000 Christmas cards and a chocolate cake from Jane Asher to cheer him up. He never, however, mentions the crime which landed him in prison. Many of his Australian readers are only dimly aware of the details - that he took £500,000 from the Daily Star after cajoling friends to provide him with a false alibi in his 1987 libel action over a story that he had dealings with a prostitute.

Questions on the subject are dealt with briskly. "One always has regrets, we all make mistakes, but one has to move on," he replied when asked by the Guardian whether he had any remorse.

The new Jeffrey Archer novel, False Impression, has been released in Australia nine weeks ahead of publication in Britain. His publisher, Pan Macmillan, said this was to tap the "beach market" over the antipodean Christmas.

But it could also be an attempt to test the water. Supporters say his outcast status has a particular appeal in a country which prides itself on its lack of snobbery - it is a matter of national pride for Australians to offer "a fair go for everyone".

Lord Archer's engagements include a £42-a-head Rotary Club charity dinner on Monday in Toorak, an affluent suburb of Melbourne. The event is billed as a "once in a lifetime experience" and is the brainchild of the club's president, Alan Freedman. Mr Freedman said Australians were a forgiving bunch. "He was made a scapegoat in prison - it's typical English tall poppy syndrome, cutting down people who are successful. He copped it on the chin, he did his time, and now he's giving something back."

The women at Lord Archer's Sydney luncheon roared with appreciation at his affected cockney accent as he mimicked fellow prison inmates with names such as Del Boy and Big Al. One risque tale in which a jailmate called him a "wanker" prompted particular hilarity.

The question and answer session which followed was largely a softball affair. Jan Power, who flew from Brisbane for the occasion, asked: "With all the energy you've used in entertaining us all these years, what are you going to do next?"

He was questioned on the standard of food in prison and on what it was like to live in Rupert Brooke's old house in Grantchester, near Cambridge.

Another guest, however, was more robust: "I read that you have rejoined the Conservative party. Are you planning a comeback to politics or are you just being a nuisance?" Lord Archer's reply was perhaps coloured by David Cameron's insistence that he was not wanted back in the frontline of the Conservative party: "We're in opposition, I'm 65 years old. There's no future for me in politics in that sense. My interests are in writing and in charity work."

Speaking on the fringes of the lunch later, Lord Archer was more abrupt. Some reviewers have suggested that the plot of False Impression echoes his own situation. The novel is a story of an art expert who rumbles her boss's corrupt dealings in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. When this was put to him, he snapped that it was "complete drivel and invention".

He insisted he had not intended to cause a fuss by reapplying for Conservative membership. "I live in Cambridge and I just joined the local party," he said. "No, of course I didn't expect there to be any reaction. Especially a few months after [then party chairman] Liam Fox said we weren't a vindictive party."

With that, Lord Archer's minders were hustling him out into the Sydney sunshine, ready to be guest of honour at a dinner party hosted by the Australian film director Bruce Beresford.